OTTAWA TEENS TO PERFORM WITH FOREIGNER
The Brookfield High School choir is made up of kids from different countries (from Iran, to Russia, to Serbia, to Somalia, to China) and from different economic and social backgrounds, but they have one thing in common these days: They are now big fans of a 1980s classic-rock band called Foreigner.
That may seem a bit incongruous but, hey, once you hear the story, it will make sense.
Last April, Brookfield’s choir director, Melanie Reeks, got a phone call. The agents for Foreigner were looking for a high school group to sing with the band at RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest on July 8.
It was one of those serendipitous things. Reeks, who is just finishing a one-year contract at the school, was available when the call came in, and Brookfield, beginning with a B, was one of the first schools contacted.
She jumped at the chance. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Reeks herself has never seen Foreigner in concert; even so, she is a fan. The band belongs to her parents’ generation, and she grew up listening to them and says she is a fan of their music.
The result is 18 members of the choir, from Grades 9 to 12, will join the band onstage, where they will sing the chorus of Foreigner’s biggest hit, I Want To Know What Love Is, near the end of the set. There are 35 students in the full choir, but with summer holidays underway only so many could participate, Reeks says. The group has been rehearsing for about a month. The choir does have some members who have taken music lessons, but for most, they just like to sing, Reeks said. They must like it, because rehearsals start at 7:30 a.m., twice a week. “By nine o’clock, when rehearsal is over, I can’t make them stop,” she said.
“We have practised the words, the melody, how to line up, how to enter and exit the stage, because once the choir goes onstage I’m not there to conduct them anymore,” Reeks says. She will be backstage.
Before the show, the students, in special T-shirts, and parents will be helping raise more funds for music in education by selling special Foreigner CDs to concertgoers. The money goes to the Grammy Foundation, which, in turn, funds music education. Brookfield gets a $500 donation from Foreigner, as well.
“We are very excited, the parents are very excited. The choir has never sung in front of a crowd this big before or with a professional band. It will definitely be a memory the kids will have forever.”
The appearance by the Brookfield choir is the kind of thing the rock band treasures, says the current lead singer of Foreigner, Kelly Hansen.
“We don’t need a choir to do the song and there are many times when we don’t have a choir, but the looks on the kids’ faces before and after, and the letters that the kids write are fabulous. You can tell that it’s a really big deal for them.
“But the bigger picture here is to bring attention to the fact that money is being taken out of school arts programs, and that’s usually the first place it comes out of.
“Without the exposure to art and music and literature, what happens is people grow up in their own little local bubble and they don’t become aware and accepting of the world around them.”
We don’t need a choir to do the song, and there are many times when we don’t have a choir, but the looks on the kids’ faces before and after, and the letters that the kids write are fabulous. You can tell that it’s a really big deal for them. KELLY HANSEN, lead singer o f Foreigner
“They don’t have a depth of knowledge that allows them to be unafraid of what they don’t know about. I really feel it’s important to create well-rounded people. Music teaches discipline and it expands horizons.”
At this point in the band’s career, he believes people get the idea behind their charitable effort. The band has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars through this, he says.
Foreigner is touring this summer with Styx and Don Felder, a former member of The Eagles, in a 1970s and ’ 80s rock tour called Soundtrack of Summer that is redolent of nostalgia.
“It’s like a 40-city tour that we are smack in the middle of right now,” he said from New York City, a few days before some of the tour’s buses exploded into flame. Undeterred, the bands are going to make Bluesfest. The band is also working on new material, including some video projects, Hansen says. Next up after that is an acoustic tour in Germany.
Because of the band’s longevity, the fan base is extending into second and third generations. And some of the music is being placed in commercials and elsewhere, so people track it down and then find the rest of the discography, he says.
Critics haven’t always been that friendly to Foreigner. But Hansen say he couldn’t care less.
“I don’t give to much credence to people who spend their career criticizing others. I say if you are so good at it, why aren’t you doing it?
“The thing is, if you are creating something artistic that somehow reaches people and millions connect with it and want it, how can that be bad art? That’s what critics like to say. If you’re ‘niche-y’ and real weird and offbeat, they love you, but as soon as you become popular, well you’re no longer a critical darling. Go see and hear something for yourself.”